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Planning decisions on windfarms
The Secretary of State’s decision on the 3 windfarm proposals in Berwick, which were the subject of a major public inquiry in May 2009, has been released.
The 3 planning applications for the Barmoor, Moorsyde and Toft Hill windfarms were refused by the former Berwick Borough Council in March 2008. In accordance with the recommendations of the Planning Inspector who presided over the public inquiry the Secretary of State has allowed the appeal into the Barmoor windfarm decision and has dismissed the Toft Hill and Moorsyde windfarm appeals.
In his conclusions the Secretary of State recognised the need for and the wider benefits of wind energy developments and noted the very substantial shortfall between Northumberland's targets for wind energy development and its predicted installed capacity for 2010. He considered that there is, and there will continue to be, an urgent need for renewable energy developments and stated that this is a matter to which the Secretary of State attaches substantial weight.
Notwithstanding these conclusions, the Secretary of State considered that in respect of the Moorsyde windfarm the development would be 'seriously harmful to the principal views of the Cheviots' and also that there was 'significant potential for noise limits to be breached' and that these two factors were sufficiently significant to weigh against the wider benefits of wind energy development. The Secretary of State also considered that 'residents would experience material harm to their visual amenity but not to the extent that living conditions would become intolerable.'
In respect of the Toft Hill windfarm proposal the Secretary of State considered that the scheme would have a 'significant adverse impact on the setting of the scheduled ancient monument' . He attached substantial weight to the serious harm that would be caused to the historic environment and that this outweighed the wider benefits of the proposal.
In the case of the Barmoor windfarm proposal the secretary of State concluded that overall the scheme's visual effects would be acceptable and identified no unacceptable harm in terms of landscape character effect. He also concluded that the settings of scheduled ancient monuments and other cultural heritage features would not be significantly affected and that there was no evidence that air safety would be unacceptably prejudiced. He concluded therefore that the benefits of the scheme outweighed its harm.
Councillor Jim Smith, Northumberland County Council’s executive member for regeneration, housing and planning, said: “The County Council welcomes the appeal decisions which will help to inform future decisions on windfarm developments particularly in North Northumberland. We also welcome the Inspector and Secretary of State's careful balancing of the issues involved, in particular the weight accorded to landscape and heritage issues whilst recognising the importance of the wider benefits of wind energy in helping to reach renewable energy targets and combat climate change.”
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